What's on your Wednesday Menu?

Are you chewing enough? Do you count your chews? I only have issues if I am not sitting while I eat or if I do not chew enough.

I think the answer to that is I can always chew more. The last couple of incidents have started on days while eating at the office, which I do while working at my desk and often between meetings. So probably less attention than needed. I do not count chews - need to give that a go! I always tried to just hit that "applesauce " consistency.

In an interesting comparison, I have fewer issues if I eat while standing. One of my newish coping mechanisms has been to flex my core during and after eating because of how eating feels. At the very least, I've had a huge increase in ingesting air that I've been trying to figure out.

Should also add that I do take the time to pre-cut meat when I prep weekly office day meals. That way I'm not at work trying to saw up slices of things. I might end up with diced pork loin in mushroom sauce but it's been one of the ways to offset the possibility of inhaling my food. As JB said though...some stuff is just impossible to chew through enough.

I am 8 years out and I got stuck on a spiedie just a few weeks ago. Dry meats are really tough, even if you chew them to death.

I think it's a good idea to go on liquids today. When I was early out I was told that any time you get stuck you have to go back to liquids, then progress through all the steps again-- mushies then soft foods for a week. The theory being that a stuck episode creates swelling and irritation and it needs time to fully heal otherwise you are more like to get stuck again because of the swelling.

Oh man, the dreaded spiedies! I'm sorry that happened to you.

Yep, that's another piece of feedback I've picked up from here is walking back diet when needed. I'd much rather reset my GI tract and give it time to work through what's going on. Menu crew has seen it all before, and I appreciate your knowledge and experience.

It does make me want to call the nutritionist again to ask some more questions!

I was told the same thing as QJB about having an irritated pouch and letting it heal by using liquids only.

Hope you feel better. That is awful. Any results from your capsule test? Have you tried adding simethicone and beans to your regimen before meals?

No results yet, though this is the same clinic that didn't fall with my CT scan results, so I'll reach out tomorrow. After taking the X-rays, the tech asked what I was in for. She was familiar with sitzmark studies, so maybe she didn't see anything.

I haven't taken simethicone since the night before the blockage in May when I had a very bad reaction. Same goes for the Levsin but I'm avoiding that to preserve motility. I do eat some beans but in small quantities and very carefully because of some incredible bloating. They're on my list of things not to eat out of the house because I don't know what my system will do.

Good morning gang. Yesterday was lovely, and it was perfect for being on the water. Back to the routine today.

Does anyone else find it odd that JB's new favorite study spot serves coffee? The beverage tab might exceed tuition.

QOTD: I've never had a work uniform. I've never had to wear a tie, suit, big boy shoes or anything of that ilk. I think the last time I wore a uniform of any kind was in cub scouts. I've avoided joining any paramilitary organizations since.

Paramilitary ??